Dial governor



Feb. 10, 1942. c, H; FRANK 2,272,168

DIAL GOVERNOR Filed March 31, 1939 v6. 6. FRAN/(S 3 -Arm/W) Patented Feb. 10, 1942 V azvams' DIAL GOVERNOR Clem H. Franks, Hinsdale,.Ill., assi lor to weste ern Electric Company, Incorporated, New York',; N. Y., a corporation of New ork Y 1 Application March 31, 1939, Serial 'No."2 65,112 v301mm (01-. 9 -s9 This invention relates to a dial governor and more particularly to a Speed governing mechanism for a calling dial for automatictelephones.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple and-effective mechanism for gov J erning the speed of rotation of a dial. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the impul'sing wheel of a telephone calling dial is connected, through a clutch mechanism, to a governor shaft, which has a cross arm fixed theretoon which; in turn, there. are

supported a pair of pins designed to support coiled springs, each spring having a friction element at one end and a weight at thejother end thereof. The cross arm and'related parts are rotatably supported in a governor drum, and upon rotation of thecross arm, the weights will be thrown outwardly'to force the friction elements into engagementwith the walls of the drum. The spring supporting pins are positioned with respect. to

the wall of the drum and the length ofthe arms of the springs, which" support. the friction'elements, are so proportioned that whenthe'weights are thrown outwardly by centrifugal force, the friction elements will tend to wedge against the arm is connected to the gear through a one-way .clutch comprising a coiled spring encircling the shaft and a corresponding shaft on which the governor driving gear is mounted.

-A better understanding of the invention will be had by reference to the accompanyingdrawing, wherein Fig. 1 is a plan vi'ew of. a telephone calling dial, part of the dial being broken away to show the impulsing wheel and the governor mechanism. 1

Fig. 2 is a plan View on anenlarged scale of the governor mechanism shown in Fig. 1, parts of the mechanism being shown in dot and dash lines. to. more clearlyillustrate the details of construction of the governor, and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3'3 of Fig. 2 in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to the drawing, wherein like reference" characters designate the same parts. throughout the several views, the numeral l designates a dial, for use in automatic telephone transmitting apparatus, provided with a series of finger apertures l I, whereby the dial may be rotated in a clockwise direction until the fingers of the person operating the dial engages a finger stop I 2. The dial is of thetype common to telephone dialing apparatus, and upon its release will be driven in a counter-clockwise. direction by i cam wheel I6 having impulsing contacts (not dial housing I3.

wall of the drum. The shaft carrying the cross a spring motor,- .l3 to rotate an; impulse w-heelp or shown) associated therewith for. transmitting pulses representative of thenumbers dialedby the dialing mechanism. The dial l0, impulse.

Wheel l6 and agear l'lare mounted-uponxand rotated with a shaft l8 suitably'journaleclv in'a The dial'housing [Sis cup'-,

shaped in configuration and has: a circular wall 20 and a-base 2|.

, Mounted upon the base 2|, by means of screws 22 ,andj23, is a bearing bridge I'll-having an apertureZS therein in which there is-journalled a governor shaft 26. The other-end-of the governor shaft is journalled in a bearing-21 formed in'the bottom of a. cup-shaped governorddrum 28, the inner surfaceof the, walls ofwhich are adapted to be engaged by friction elements}? when the spring motor lg3of; the dial tends togrotate .the; dialvmorezrapijd'ly than is desired.

.shankportion, 3llextends upwardly and bears inzthe bridge; 24, whereas the shoulder 32-rests against across arm"v 33, into an-aperture .34',jin

the aperture 34 flint-O engagement with the portion coil spring 36, as'will be apparent by reference to Fig. 3, encircles the portion 38 of the clutch member and the portion 3ljof the shaft 26, being positioned thereon between the shoulder 32 on theshaft and-a shoulder 39 on the clutch member. The upper end- (Fig. 3) of the clutch member, 31" is provided with gear teeth 43, which mesh with the gear l1, and whenever rotation is imparted to the gearl1, either by the person operatingthe dial ID or by the spring motor l3,

the clutch member 31 will rotate with the gear l'l. When the gear I! is rotated in a clockwise direction, the clutch member 31 will be rotated lnacounter-clockwise direction and will tend to 'lihegshaf-tifi as; maybe clearly-seen in Fig. has a-shank portion, 30, an, en1arged portion 31 and an annular shoulder 32 formedthereon. The

unwind the coiled spring 36 and therefore the shaft 25 will not be driven by the coiled spring. However, upon release of the dial l0, after it has been rotated in a clockwise direction, the spring motor I3 will drive the dial in a counter-clockwise direction, thereby rotating the clutch member 31 in a clockwise direction. Upon clockwise rotation of the clutch member 31, the spring 36 will grippingly engage both the clutch member 31 and the portion 3| of the shaft and will rotate the shaft 26 with the gear I1. When the shaft 26 is rotated, it will carry with it the cross arm 33, upon the outer ends of which there are fixed a pair of pins or studs 50 and 5|. The studs 50 and 5| have loosely encircling them coiled springs 52 and 53, respectively, and the ends of the coiled springs 52 and 53 extend tangentially away from the studs, both ends'of each spring extending in the same general direction. Each of the springs 52 and 53 carry on their extending ends the friction element 29 on one end and a weight 54 on the other end. It is believed to be apparent that when the shaft 26 is rotated at a relatively high speed, as it is when it is driven by the spring motor l3, the weights 54 will tend to fly outwardly at a tangent away from the shaft 26 and in so doing, will cause the friction elements 29 to bear against the inner wall of the governor drum 28. Since the weights 54 are interconnected with the friction elements 29 by the coiled springs 52 and 53, they will resiliently urge the friction members into engagement with the walls of the drum, thereby to slow the shaft 26 down and govern the speed of the dial l0 and its associated impulse wheel [6 when they are driven by the spring motor I3, and in this manner will control the speed at which the impulse wheel will actuate its associated contacts, not shown.

It should be noted that the pins 50 are spaced sufficiently from the wall of the drum 28 to permit the friction elements 29 to move to a position where they will be self-energizing in their braking action, i. e., the .farther the weights 54 move from the center of the drum under centrifugal action, the greater will be the tendency of the friction elements 29 to move to a position where they will be wedged resiliently between the pins 50 and the drum 28, and the friction elements 29 will, therefore, exert progressively greater braking action as their supporting springs are rotated about their pins 50.

Although a specific embodiment of the invention has been described hereinbefore, it will be understood that some variations may be made in the structure without departing from the invention, which is to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a governor mechanism, a stationary drum, a shaft rotatable in'said drum, a cross arm fixed to said shaft, a pair of studs, one mounted at each end of said cross arm, a multi-turn spring surrounding and freely supported on each of said studs and having the ends thereof diverging away from the stud, a friction member adapted to engage-the drum fixed to an end of each spring, and a weight fixed to the other end of each spring.

2. A governor for telephone dials comprising a governor drum, a shaft journalled in said drum, a clutch mechanism associated with said shaft for driving the shaft when the clutch mechanism is rotated in one direction, a cross arm fixed to said shaft, a pair ofrpins fixed on opposite ends of said cross arm, a coiled spring encircling each of said pins a plurality of times and freely movable thereon, a weight fixed to an extending end of each coiled spring, and a friction member fixed to the other end of each coiled spring for env gaging the inner surface of the governor drum, said spring ends acting independently.

3. In a governor mechanism for dial telephones, 2. cup-shaped governor drum, a bearing formed in the base of said drum and located centrally therein. a shaft journalled in said bearing, a cross arm fixed to said-shaft, a. pair of pins mounted adjacent opposite ends of said cross arm, a multi-coil spring loosely encircling each of said pins, said springs having ends thereof extending outwardly in substantially parallel planes away from the pin and said ends being unattached to each other, a friction member mounted on one of the extending ends' of each spring for engaging the drum, a weight mounted on the opposite end of each spring, means for driving said shaft including agear and a clutch for positively connecting the shaft and gear upon rotation of the gear in one direction, a second gear meshing with said first-mentioned gear, and a hand operated dial fixed to said second-mentioned gear.

' CLEM H. FRANKS. 

